


so breakable, unbreakable

by xlightless



Series: a monster born, i'm fading more [2]
Category: B.A.P
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tokyo Ghoul, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 13:38:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7054009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xlightless/pseuds/xlightless
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yongguk is a first class ghoul investigator who is assigned to Junhong, his new partner and apparent genius rookie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	so breakable, unbreakable

“My name is Choi Junhong. It’s an honor to work with you, sir.”

Yongguk stares at Junhong, a tall wide-eyed rookie straight out of the Academy. When he straightens from his ninety-degree bow, he shifts from one foot to the other, his hands folded one on top of the other in front of him. He bites slightly into his bottom lip, waiting for Yongguk’s response.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Yongguk replies with a smile. He holds his hand out towards Junhong.

Junhong positively beams, bright enough to challenge the shining sun behind him, and he takes Yongguk’s hand into his.

//

Yongguk is ten and coming home from school when he first encounters a ghoul. He walks past an alleyway where he hears the disgusting crunching of bones, the ripping of flesh, and the feeble begging of a dying voice. He catches a glimpse of red blood spilling from a corpse and walks faster, hoping not to be seen. He doesn’t say anything to his mother when he walks through the door.

He is thirteen when he finds out his mother was eaten by a ghoul on her way home from the store. The men who come into his home call it an “accident”, but Yongguk recognizes a ghoul investigator when he sees one. He recognizes the silver bulky suitcases, the pristine suits, and the cold eyes. He doesn’t know what to feel. He clenches his hands into fists underneath the table. He can hear the blood rushing in his ears, nearly drowning out the investigator’s voice.

“We’d like to offer you a space in the Commission of Counter Ghoul’s Junior Academy,” one of the investigators says. “We will provide you with the proper shelter and education, and when you turn eighteen, we will give you the option of undergoing formal training to become a ghoul investigator. It’s up to you.”

Yongguk stares at the men. What does he have to lose? His mother is dead, his father was never around, and his immediate family hated him anyway.

“I’ll do it,” Yongguk says.

The investigator nods. “Good choice.”

Yongguk is sixteen when he sits at a desk, taking notes as a teacher drones on about the origin of ghouls.

“We don’t know where ghouls came from, except that they first appeared in Japan. They look like humans except for when they eat.” She points at her one of her eyes. “Their pupils will turn bright red and their sclera will turn black. They are superior to humans in all biological aspects, but that’s why we have the _quinque_ to fight them.” She changes the slide on the projector to one full of weapons. “These are made of a ghoul’s anatomical weapon, their _kagune_. Our _quinque_ is the only weapon known today that can fight a ghoul. It’s like the saying, fight fire with fire, right?”

Yongguk is nineteen when he’s handed a _quinque_ in the training room. He can feel the adrenaline surging through him as he grips the handle. He activates the _quinque_ , and almost drops it as it transforms from a suitcase to a glowing red sword that looks like a katana.

“Attack them like they’re ghouls,” his instructor says.

Yongguk grips the _quinque_ , charging at the targets scattered all around the room. He easily slices through them. When he’s done, his breaths come out in gasps and he looks to his instructor who nods in approval.

Yongguk doesn’t think he’s ever felt more powerful in his life.

//

The thing about Junhong, Yongguk learns really early on, is that he has literally no field experience (“I trained with a _quinque_ back in the Academy,” Junhong says and Yongguk fights the urge to look unimpressed because _every_ rookie does that), but Yongguk makes it his responsibility to train this kid because according to his supervisor, he’s a genius, but he’s raw like a diamond straight from the mines.

“So, when you’re pursuing a ghoul, you have to make sure you’re as inconspicuous as possible,” Yongguk says. He nods to the large _quinque_ briefcases in their hands. “Especially when we got these with us.”

Junhong nods to his own briefcase. “When can I get a better _quinque_? I don’t mean to sound ungrateful or anything, it’s just…” He holds the briefcase up like he expects Yongguk to understand what he’s trying to say. His _quinque_ is mass-produced and shipped from Japan, meaning it isn’t as effective as the specialized ones given to investigators with higher ranks, but it’ll still do its job.

“When you reach Rank 1, I’ll see if I can get something for you,” Yongguk says. They’ve gotten smaller from the bulkier prototypes, but these are still noticeable.

“You know, in Japan, they have these knives that can fit in your coat,” Junhong says, his excitement evident in his voice. “Do you think I’ll be able to work with that?”

Yongguk smiles, fighting the urge to pat Junhong’s head. There’s a certain naivety about Junhong that makes him wish he were a teenager again. “Don’t get too ahead of yourself now.”

//

Junhong is fifteen when he befriends a ghoul. His name is Jongup and they meet in high school biology. A couple reluctant class projects later, they’re inseparable. Initially, Junhong doesn’t know Jongup is a ghoul, but he’s always suspected. Jongup always has a can of coffee in class, and he rarely eats.

“I eat a big breakfast at home” is always Jongup’s excuse whenever Junhong asks, his hand wrapped around a can of cold coffee from the vending machines close to school.

Junhong doesn’t know if he buys it, but he doesn’t persist after the first couple of times.

Junhong is seventeen when he finds out Jongup is a ghoul. Jongup disappears a couple weeks before they’re supposed to graduate, but nobody seems to care except Junhong. He catches Jongup in a dark alleyway, cornered by a pair of ghoul investigators. Junhong shudders when he sees the bulging veins surrounding Jongup’s eyes. The glowing crimson pupils and sclera as black as midnight. The _kagune_ slithering out of his lower back like a massive tentacle.

Jongup locks eyes with Junhong, widening as he silently pleads for help.

Junhong freezes. He doesn’t know if he should help. He can’t bring himself to move. The ghoul investigators close in on Jongup, their _quinques_ held up and ready to attack. Jongup’s _kagune_ moves side to side slowly, like a cat’s tail before it pounces. His eyes flit back and forth from the investigators to Junhong.

Junhong ends up shoving the investigators to the side and grabbing onto Jongup’s hand. The ghoul investigators shout at them as they dart out of the alleyway. Ten minutes later, Jongup sits in front of Junhong in an abandoned building, trying to catch their breath.

“Thanks,” Jongup whispers. His _kagune_ and crimson pupils disappeared long ago. He stares at the ground.

Junhong swallows the lump in his throat. He tries to ignore that he just prevented two ghoul investigators from doing their job. He’s probably on several government wanted lists now. He tries to smile at Jongup despite that, though. “Y-yeah, no problem, bro.”

Jongup frowns, his expression turning into something that looks apologetic. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t… You shouldn’t have felt the need to do that.”

Junhong blinks. Once, twice. Jongup may be a ghoul, but he’s still Junhong’s friend. He grabs Jongup’s shoulders and gives him the widest grin he can muster through his fading adrenaline. “You’re my friend. Being a ghoul doesn’t change that.”

Jongup looks up, and Junhong swears he can see the shimmer of unshed tears in the light from the streetlights outside. He brings Jongup into an awkward hug, wrapping his lanky arms around Jongup’s stockier frame. He realizes they’re both shaking.

“Nobody’s ever said that to me before,” Jongup whispers, his breath brushing against Junhong’s nape. “I thought I was going to die.”

That night, Jongup tells Junhong about his parents and how investigators came into their home to kill them. He tells Junhong he left his parents to die in their shitty excuse of an apartment. He spills every regret he has about being an ungrateful son and a ghoul.

“I didn’t ask to be born like this,” Jongup murmurs into Junhong’s shoulder.

And Junhong thinks about the ghoul investigators and what they could have done to Jongup. He thinks about the other children who have been stripped of their homes and families because of prejudiced ghoul investigators.

That night, Junhong tells his parents that he’s sleeping over at a friend’s house for a school project and stays with Jongup the entire time. At this point, it’s just him and Jongup in an empty building, and everything isn’t fine, but he tells Jongup that it will be in time.

Junhong is nineteen when he enrolls into the Ghoul Investigator Training Academy. He decides that the only way to change the system is from the inside.

//

Yongguk and Junhong’s next big case is to find a ghoul codenamed the _Jester_ for his white and yellow clown mask.

Yongguk examines the photograph of the Jester, a young man with platinum blond hair. His _kagune_ is the color of a sunflower’s petals with a single maroon stripe running down the middle. It spirals like a corkscrew down his right arm and narrows into a sharpened tip a good foot or two from his hand.

“Jester, huh?” Junhong says, peering over Yongguk’s shoulder to look at the photographs. “He doesn’t _look_ like the SS rating he has.”

“That kind of mentality will get you killed,” Yongguk says. He hands the photographs to Junhong and leans back in his seat. “Just because he’s young doesn’t mean he isn’t dangerous. Remember that case of the cannibal ghoul in Japan?”

Junhong is silent, and when Yongguk glances at him, he can see Junhong’s eyebrows drawn together in thought. “You mean the Centipede?”

Yongguk nods. The kid’s _kagune_ had encased the upper half of his body in a hardened shell and formed a centipede-like tail, earning him the nickname. “Yeah, if I remember correctly, he was rated SS when he was only nineteen.”

“True,” Junhong says, placing the Jester’s photographs back in the folder. “I think my teacher went over that case for a bit. She said he was a good example of what happens to a ghoul if they repeatedly eat other ghouls.”

Yongguk hums in response. “They’re all a bunch of fucked up freaks, if you ask me.”

Junhong doesn’t respond, but Yongguk is already packing his things.

//

They’re in the middle of a fight with a B rated ghoul that they didn’t want to get involved with in the first place, but they saw the eyes and the dead body, and they couldn’t just walk away after that. A massive wing sprouts out of the ghoul’s left side, pulsing bright crimson and glistening underneath the dim streetlamp. Yongguk activates his _quinque_ , letting it whip out of his briefcase, serpentining around him like a snake. In his peripherals, he can see Junhong glancing between him and the ghoul in front of them.

“You gonna activate your _quinque_ or not?” Yongguk asks before charging at the ghoul.

Junhong activates his _quinque_. It’s a blade that resembles a katana more than anything, a lot like the ones Yongguk used in training. Despite it being a lower quality than Yongguk’s versatile whip, Junhong easily slices his way through the _kagune_ to the ghoul.

With a flick of his wrist, Yongguk’s _quinque_ whips out to strike out at the ghoul, but it leaps out of the way. He catches the fragments dissipating like feathers into the air. “Junhong, watch out!”

Junhong barely gets away from the ghoul as the fragments hurtle like tiny blades and dig into the asphalt. “Oh, holy shit.”

Yongguk watches the ghoul. He can see the strain on the ghoul’s furrowed eyebrows. This type is better with close combat because of its speed, but that move uses more stamina than most other attacks. They just need to tire him out until they can take him out.

“Did they not teach that in the Academy?” Yongguk asks with a laugh at the edge of his voice.

“It’s one thing to see it on a screen, but it’s another to see it in real life,” Junhong replies. His eyes are wide with either excitement or horror, Yongguk can’t tell. He pushes his fallen strands of hair out of his forehead as they wait for the ghoul’s next attack.

**Author's Note:**

> the buddy cop/tokyo ghoul!au literally no one asked for. probably won't be continuing this unless i actually find the necessary effort needed ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> (youngjae’s kagune is based shamelessly off [tsukiyama's](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/tokyoghoul/images/9/96/Shuu_Tsukiyama's_kagune.png/revision/latest?cb=20140807154054) because i’m straight up tsukiyama trash lmao)


End file.
